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MP backs call for more trees

Berwick MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan has been in Hexham finding out more about employment opportunities created by the timber industry and how tree-planting can help in flood prevention.

Vice-chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Forestry, she is an advocate of plans to plant more trees in rural Northumberland – helping farmers to diversify, creating jobs and holding back excess rainwater from rivers prone to flooding.

During her visit, she toured chipboard manufacturer EGGER – Northumberland’s largest manufacturing employer – and also spoke with the company’s forest management and harvesting team.

Simon Hart, general manager of EGGER Forest Management, said: “It was a pleasure to show Mrs Trevelyan around the factory and tell her about the wide range of jobs created by the region’s timber industry.

“This was also a great opportunity to tell her a little more about the Roots to Prosperity initiative that is supported by all of the local county councils, the North East LEP and backed by a wide range of businesses.”

Roots to Prosperity is calling on Government to make it easier for the commercial forestry sector to plant more trees – creating hundreds of jobs and bringing millions of pounds of investment into the North.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by publicrelations consultancy.com .